Long-standing Conservative voters thread

[Katypp]

Any one else who has - up to this point at least - been a Tory voter?
I have voted Conservative at every national election (I am late 50s). This one is probably the most likely to change. Purely because I think new blood would be a good idea. I live in a very Labour area and have never shared my colours with anyone from being in my early 20s.
Given the fact that the Tories usually win, I suspect there are a lot like me.
I know it's a big ask, but I hope thar this might be a sensible thread for other natural Tory voters to discuss the election and not be called names and shouted down like we are on every other thread.
If you are a Labour voter, please don't hijack the thread and tell us how wrong we are. There is free speech in the UK and we are just as entitled to hold our opinion as you are to hold yours.

And nobody who ever voted Labour would ever vote for a party with Cameron in it. Nor would any Remainer.

Cameron was a remainer, he thought we'd get a clear remain vote and then get in with other stuff.
jeremy Corbyn was a Brexiter, he was sat on heavily not to come out with Marxist Brexit rhetoric.
labour was firmly on the fence during the referendum

Cameron’s personal views are neither here nor there. He instigated the referendum to appease the right of his party. We should never have had it at all. Brexit was a terrible act of political self harm and Cameron will for ever be held responsible for it.

Have no idea why brexit us thought of as right wing, old Labour was totally anti EU and 70s Tories pro. Imo it is a way for big Corporates to get more power at the expense of small businesses. Tony Benn also was heavily against as it was anti democratic and benefits the rich at the expense of the poor.

Which government gave us the referendum? And which wing of that party is the ERG in? Where in the political spectrum was UKIP and is Farage? All those things might give you a clue why Brexit is considered a right wing enterprise.

Yes I know its considered a right wing enterprise, I just think that's wrong and plenty of people did it for left wing or democracy reasons. Most of the tory parlamentary party aren't the erg and aren't right wing and most of the Labour Party are not left wing in the sense of trying to benefit the working classes - they are more about dividing people through identity politics now and I can guarantee will make life even worse for most than the Tories when they get in.

It won’t come into being for years will it?Those at Uni now or about to go shouldn’t be affected ( I think).
Nobody will be forced into the military, it will be a choice and those who choose it will be in for a year only, a bit like a gap year but doing something useful which leads to a career if they like it.Otherwise it’s one weekend each month to do something for society.I don’t think it’s a bad idea overall but not one that should be rushed out in order to win votes.
There will be exemptions for medical reasons and mental health reasons.

Plus many people didn’t bother themselves to vote on it either way.

It was the highest turnout this century.

And yet the only time the 'red wall' turned blue was when the main manifesto pledge of the Conservatives was to 'get Brexit done'. Brexit was a cross-party issue and there were many traditional Labour voters who were completely sold on the 'get our sovereignty back', £350m a week for the NHS, 'get control of our borders', and all the rest of the BS rhetoric the Brexit campaign.

Just because the Tories were highly skilled in capitalising on red wall xenophobia doesn’t mean Brexit was a left wing initiative. The flying in the face of facts on this subject is jaw dropping.

That’s not what I read. So many young people who could have voted didn’t bother.

A thoroughly engaging read so far, but this is a placemarking comment. And so polite!

It was a right-wing initiative that appealed greatly to a lot of traditionally left-wing voters and that's why Labour didn't meaningfully oppose it. They couldn't, because they knew they'd alienate a lot of their core voters if they did.

Thank you. Exactly that.

Ah, here come the Lib Dem’s with their sensible proposals to help ease the country’s worries. I mean it’s what we’re all worried about isn’t it, being able to watch Premier League football. Never mind the economy, NHS, education, etc 🙄

It’s Student Union politics, they seem determined to make a laughing stock of themselves. I’m just waiting for them to start offering free vodka shots with every ballot cast.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c900kqxw1lzo

Left wing economically, right wing socially.
The main rhetoric that appealed to red wall voters was to cut immigration. Combination of austerity and influx of EU migrants to already struggling areas whilst good old London was thriving apparently, caused tension. Hatred towards Cameron and Osbourne. Nothing to do with the political ideology that led to the creation of the EU, neoliberalism and big corporations exploiting the workers a la Tony Benn and Corbo. That’s why it was always destined to fail, red wallers who like government spending and intervention, and traditional tories who are very much into cutting benefits, minimal state intervention, small state writ big, Singapore on Thames wet dream if you will. Two very different tribes.

Out of curiosity, are any on here wavering or will you still vote Conservative?
As I said at the beginning. I am probably less decided than I have ever been, but have heard nothing from Labour that has impressed me enough to switch yet. I do like the national green energy policy but i really, really dislike Raynor and find Starmer weak. I also dislike the thuggish element of Labour voters on here, which is influencing me far more than it should.
Ed Davey is turning the Lib Dems into a joke so it's a no from me on thar front.
I live in England so can't vote SNP or PC.
Although I think Reform have some decent policies, something is stopping me there -probably again the thuggish element and how it us perceived if you vote for them. Stupid I know.
So still a reluctant vote for Rishi here, even though it's the best of the worst.

As conservative as I am, the last few PMs have been a disaster and I feel like a change so voting Lib Dem! But I’m not on board the whole gender BS they support so it’s quite a hard decision and maybe I’ll end up voting Tory anyway….

@Katypp I’m still firmly in the “Fuck knows” camp! I live in a seat that has been Tory since the Year Dot (current majority of about 11,000) but there has been a boundary change this year. The two other areas that have been merged with our constituency have both been Tory since the late 80s (bar one defector who went LD before losing the next election) so odds are it’ll stay blue.

Our local MP is a mixed bag, I don’t think she’s been too bad (ringing endorsement there!) but talking to members of the local council, they’re not big fans.

Right now the odds on me writing “A pox on all your houses” across my ballot are pretty short!

I also feel that I cannot possibly vote conservative, because doing so would be validating everything they have done in the last fourteen years.

I'm a floater. I don't vote for the same party each time but vote depending on what their policies are. I was green at last election and its a wasted vote really here. I live in a solid Conservative area that could go Lib Dem or stay Conservative. The Greens won't win.

I don’t want to vote conservatives this time, but I don’t agree with Labour policies. Our area is very Conservative - they got about 60% of the votes last GE. I think Lib Dems are the only ones that have the vaguest possibility of beating the Conservatives around here and I’d like my vote to be meaningful, but I do need to do some research on their policies first.

Yes, this sums up how I feel too. We have a new Conservative candidate in my area since the last election, but I haven't had any information from him telling me who he is, what he'll do for the area, etc. If I get one or if, god forbid, he comes knocking at the door and I actually get to speak to him, I'll be interested to hear what he has to say. But for the local elections last month the Conservatives didn't even bother flyering, which is ridiculous. The Lib Dems, who always get in around here, did. Their comms with this area is streets ahead of the Conservatives and then the Conservatives wonder why the Lib Dems always get in!

Like you I haven’t seen anything yet.
Labours energy policy I didn’t find inspiring. Although having some of our energy provision owned by us is a good idea but again how do we do that without huge financial input. I’m not keen on the way it’s written either suggesting their proposals for floating wind farms are ground breaking when the Conservatives have already put two in the North Sea. If you don’t compare both policies side by side you could be hoodwinked into thinking Labour are indeed doing something different and so much better…I don’t see that.

Im not convinced yet, waiting for more and certainly the head to heads.